Bad Timing
by Paper Flight
Summary: Underneath that cool exterior, he's still nervous when it comes to girls. When he finally summons up the courage to ask Maka for a dance, he finds that she's already with someone else.


**Bad Timing**

* * *

**A/N: **Inspiration for this came, from of all things, Gossip Girl. Because that show is just all about bad timing.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

"Maka, are you done in there? Hurry up, or we're gonna be late!" Soul pounded on the door of his meister's room.

"One second," she called back. "Stupid shoes…freaking torture devices," she muttered under her breath.

Fifteen minutes later, a very disgruntled Maka staggered unevenly out of her room, promptly tripping over her feet as she attempted to close the door behind her. She saw the floor flying towards her, then a strong pair of arms caught her.

"Funny, I don't remember you being this clumsy," he breathed in her ear. Startled, she looked up and saw Soul's face inches from her own.

"Haha," she said sarcastically. She straightened and dusted herself off. "I hope I didn't rip the dress or anything," she said worriedly, examining the hem. "Does it look okay?"

Soul looked at his partner.

Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti had stormed their apartment a week before and, to use Maka's word, "kidnapped" her from her room to take her shopping for a dress. "It's Shibusen's annual Christmas party! And Shinigami-sama's taken extra precautions to make sure nothing like last year happens!" He remembered watching a wailing Maka begging for help as Liz carried her away, ungraciously slinging Maka over her shoulder. He'd been too dumbfounded by the spectacle to do anything but watch with his eyes wide and mouth open. Later that night, he planned on stopping by her room to see if she'd recovered from the trauma. The door was closed, but he heard voices coming from the inside.

"It's a really cute dress! Maka-chan, you will look beautiful in it, nya? Soul-kun won't be able to resist you!"

He'd felt his face grow hot.

Maka sobbed. "That's not the point! The _point_is that they burned all of my slacks and blouses!"

Soul decided at that point it was best to leave cheering up Maka to Blair.

Now, he fully appreciated Liz and crew's intervention.

She was wearing a strapless, midnight-blue dress that was made of some satiny fabric Soul didn't know too much about dresses, but it was perfect for Maka. It wasn't too low-cut or short, but showed just enough that Soul would have a hard time making fun of her size from now on. The skirt flared slightly at the bottom, revealing long and slender legs. She wore an intricate, silvery necklace that drew attention to the creamy color of her skin and the delicate arch of her neck.

But Soul couldn't keep his eyes off her face. She didn't wear any makeup (the girls had tried to come over, but Maka had given Soul _explicit_instructions beforehand to keep the door locked all day), but the dress drew out the dark jade of her eyes. She wore her hair down, not in their usual pigtails. Blair had managed to ambush Maka earlier that day and had threatened her with a curling iron. Now, her hair curled gently down past her shoulders and her face was framed by soft tendrils of gold colored locks. She glanced anxiously at him, waiting for his response.

"Yeah," he said, his voice indifferent. "It's fine."

When the two arrived at the party, Maka was immediately pounced upon by Tsubaki, Liz, Patti, Kim, and Jacqueline. They dragged her away, cooing and fussing over her, ignoring her helpless protests. Irritated for some reason, Soul turned away and found the rest of the guys standing awkwardly around the punch table. Kid was gesticulating at a confused Chrona about perfect symmetery. To Soul's surprise, he found Black*Star standing by himself, away from the others, with a somewhat brooding look on his face.

"Hey," he said, as he slouched over to Black*Star. The latter was staring at the group of girls.

"She looks really pretty tonight, doesn't she?" Black*Star commented to Soul.

"Wha – Yeah. Yeah, she does," he admitted, looking at Maka, who had gotten over her previous bad mood and was now laughing at something Kim had just said.

"She left the house before I did because she promised Liz she'd help set up the party, so I didn't get to see her before," said Black*Star, unusually quiet.

"Huh? Who are you talking about?" Soul asked, completely confused.

"Tsubaki. Duh." Black*Star looked at him like he was stupid.

"…Oh."

"I'm going to ask her to dance with me," Black*Star said firmly, and he marched up to the gaggle of girls.

Soul watched as Black*Star walked up to his partner, curious.

The girls hushed as he approached, shooting him furtive looks. Then, suddenly –

"TSUBAKI," Black*Star shouted, "DANCE WITH ME."

Soul's mouth dropped open. After a stunned silence, Tsubaki blushed and nodded while the other girls huddled together, whispering and giggling.

_Well, at least he's taller than her now_, thought Soul wryly. He walked over and joined Kid and Chrona.

" – and if you see here, you can bisect it so that all angles and sides are perfectly symmetrical," Kid was explaining to Chrona.

Chrona looked relieved when Soul walked up and stammered under his breath, "I – I don't know how to deal with symmetry."Soul patted him on the back sympathetically, but decided to stay out of it. He knew only too well how long-winded Kid's explanations on symmetry could get. Instead, he found himself wandering away to the balcony outside. Soul never really liked big social gatherings; he preferred to be by himself.

* * *

Shinigami suddenly popped up in front of Kid and Chrona. "Hello, hello, hello!" he greeted the duo. "Kid," he said reproachfully, "you shouldn't seclude yourself from the guests. Go dance with one of those lovely young ladies over there."

"Father, I – "

"Go on," Shinigami insisted, prodding his unenthusiastic son forward. "My, doesn't Maka-chan look stunning tonight? Why don't you ask her to dance?"

"But I – "

"No excuses!" and Kid reluctantly set off towards the girls, muttering darkly under his breath something about "Soul will kill me" and "rather ask Liz."

* * *

Soul looked down at the desert sand far below from where he was standing. He found himself feeling envious of Black*Star, not because over Tsubaki, but because of his courage to go up and ask for a dance.

It wasn't like he'd never danced with Maka before. They'd done it once before, in the Black Room, exactly one year ago. But it'd been different then. It'd just…been a mutual thing. And they'd been alone, except for Little Ogre, and Soul didn't give a damn what he thought. Now, he'd have to walk up in front of everyone and ask her. He could almost hear the girls laughing and giggling. He was too cool to admit it, but he was secretly afraid she'd refuse.

_It's just Maka_, he thought, trying to reassure himself. _She's your partner. It's only natural that you'd want to dance with her. Just as friends. She's got no reason to say no._

He took a deep breath and summoned up his courage, then turned around and walked back inside.

Soul looked around for Maka, but couldn't see her amongst the huddle of girls. Eventually, he walked up to Jacqueline and asked her.

"Hey, have you seen Maka?"

"Yeah, she's over there," she said, pointing in the crowd. "Aren't she and Kid so cute?"

"What?" Frantically, he scanned the dance floor and his heart sank. Kid was holding Maka in his arms, and she was looking earnestly into his gold eyes, laughing at something he'd just said.

Jacqueline smiled blissfully. "You must be so proud, Soul. After all, she's your partner. She looks really great tonight, don't you think? Soul?"

He was gone.

* * *

"I'm really, really sorry," said Kid anxiously. "Father's making me. I know you'd rather be with Soul and all, but there was really nothing I could do."

Maka's eyes clouded. "Actually, I haven't seen Soul all night. I don't think he'll mind," she said.

Kid looked at her hopefully. "You think? I wish it was the same with Liz. I can feel her glaring at me right now. She's glaring, isn't she?"

Maka peeked over Kid's shoulder and saw Liz boring holes into the back of Kid's head.

"Yup," she said cheerfully, looking back at him. Kid groaned, and Maka laughed, promptly spearing his foot with her shoe again. He tried to hide it, but he was wincing on the inside. It wasn't the first time she'd stepped on his foot.

"Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed. "Are you okay? I'm really no good at dancing."

"No, no," he said hastily. "It's fine."

Finally, the song ended. Maka grinned at Kid and gave him a hug, which he returned.

"Good luck with Liz," she said cheekily, and he grimaced. She walked towards the food table, realizing that she hadn't eaten anything yet. Piling her plate high with food, she paused and as an afterthought added some salmon to her plate.

* * *

She found him outside on the balcony, where he'd been the year before.

"Soul?" He heard footsteps behind him as she approached. "What are you doing here?" She set her plate down on the railing of the balcony. He didn't say anything, just looked up at the night sky.

"Hey, is something wrong?" she tried again.

"No."

"Oh," she faltered awkwardly. "Well, I was just wondering why you're out here all by yourself. You should come in, it's cold out." She shivered.

Instead, he said bluntly, "I'd rather stay here."

Now she was annoyed. "Look, you don't need to be so anti-social all the time. Even _Chrona's_ inside talking to people, and he's even more of a recluse than you are. It's not that bad."

He tipped his head to one side and scrutinized her with unfathomable red eyes.

Unexpectedly, he asked, "Did you like dancing with Kid?"

"I – what?" she asked, feeling wrong-footed.

He looked at her searchingly. "I said, did you like dancing with Kid?"

Disoriented by his intense gaze, she pulled back a little and turned to the side.

"I mean, yeah, he's a good dancer and all, but it was really awkward because Liz kept glaring at him. But it wasn't his fault because Shinigami-sama forced him to dance with me, only she didn't know –"

She paused to take a deep breath, then babbled on, not sure why she was feeling so flustered.

"And, you know, I kept stepping on his feet, but he was being really nice about it, and Patti kept laughing, and the whole time I kept wishing I could just die on the spot, and – "

"Maka, will you dance with me?"

She froze, mid-sentence, heart pounding. "I'm sorry?" she asked, not daring to believe what she'd just heard.

"Will you dance with me?" he asked simply.

She blinked, then realization hit her over the head, like she'd just Maka Chopped herself.

"Yes," she whispered, and gently he put his hands on her slim waist while she reached up to circle her arms around his neck.

It wasn't like the time in the Black Room at all, he thought. Then, they hadn't really been dancing. They'd been more focused on the battle with Chrona and the issue with the black blood. And it hadn't helped that Little Ogre kept making snide remarks in the corner.

But now, it was just the two of them, outside and by themselves under the stars, dancing to their own music. He knew she was cold, so he pulled her a little closer and she settled her head under his chin.

"Soul," she whispered, reaching up to cup his cheek with her small, pale hand, "it was just really, really bad timing."

He laughed softly, face pressed against her hair – she smelled so _good_ – and brushed his lips against her jawline.

"I know."

She didn't step on his feet once.

_~end~_

**A/N: **Man. I really struggled with that one. It was hard to make Soul seem jealous with making him whiny.

~ Paper


End file.
